We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Piper Foster Wilder is a non-technical founder of a company that enables microgrids and their managers to use their assets more effectively and efficiently.
She is the co-founder and CEO of 60Hertz Energy, an Anchorage, Alaska-based company offering computerized maintenance management software for microgrids.
"From villages to remote industrial sites like mines, telecom or fleets of backup power units," she said.
Piper is thoughtful and candid, quipping, "let me count the ways," when I asked her whether she's faced any entrepreneurial challenges since starting her company five years ago.
"I have a Google doc called 'What I've learned starting 60Hertz, and periodically I'll lay down some of the more painful lessons or dumb things that I did or should have known better. It's cathartic, and it's fun to look back on — to think of the things that seemed so important at that time, or that actually were important that I should have paid better attention to," she said.
Piper is, first and foremost, an intelligent woman who understands failure is instrumental to success. "As a culture, we love best practices, success stories and celebrating good work. And that's important; I'm not taking anything away from that. But in my own experience, from my vantage point, I believe failure lessons are far more important," she said.
Piper suggests the willingness to share lessons learned helped move the renewables industry forward and helped lead her to her current role.
After completing a bachelor's degree in politics from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Piper served as Executive Director of the McBride Family's Sopris Foundation in Aspen, Colorado. A few years later, she earned a fellowship from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and worked two years at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin studying land use planning to accommodate large renewable installations.
She learned about renewable technologies through her work as Vice President of Amatis Controls, an Internet of Things (IoT) hardware and software venture-backed start-up company in Aspen. She developed the company's thermal metering product line during her three-year tenure. She was also named one of 10 significant women by Aspen Magazine and helped launch Colorado's Energy Smart initiative.
Piper relocated to Alaska in 2015 to serve as Deputy Director of the Renewable Energy Alaska Project in Anchorage. There she became acquainted with the opportunity and challenges of project development, financing, and maintenance of remote power grids.
In 2016, she led a contract with the Colorado Energy Office to develop a solar-thermal-as-a-service program in partnership with six rural electric cooperatives in Colorado. She launched her company in 2017.
"The driver for me has always been, 'How can I be a solution?' I don't mean that to sound lofty. I woke up one morning in my 20s wondering what I was doing with my life and realized, 'How can I be a solution? How can I help?' was the minimum viable I could settle on," she said.
60Hertz helps by offering maintenance software purpose-built for distributed energy resources (DER). DERs are physical and virtual assets deployed across the distribution grid, typically close to load and usually behind the meter, and used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid, individual customers, or both.
60Hertz's remote management platform enables maintenance personnel to optimize the potential of solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), microgrids and backup diesel assets.
In today's podcast, Piper and I explore the growth of 60Hertz and her commitment to creating meaningful work. Her company supports the energy transition while making the best of existing diesel-fueled microgrids.
Regular listeners may recall her appearance on Episode 457 when she advised how to work with electric cooperatives.
You'll enjoy the conversation as we unpack how Piper successfully created this entrepreneurial venture. "It's so unglamorous getting a company off the ground. And yet the reward of having customers find value in our product, of hearing conversations about how it's working for them, makes it worth it," she said.
And one more thing. Piper shares a fascinating story about her decision to move to Spain somewhat impulsively after college graduation. "There was no way to get a job in Spain, except for doing things you couldn't tell your parents that you did. We faced with the option of dancing on tables," she recalled.
Tune in to find out what she did to survive — even though she conceded she's not very good at it!
BOOKS MENTIONED AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
NOTEWORTHY QUOTE:
“I feel my prayer life is one of the most dynamic and renewing parts of who I am and what I want to give in the world. And that the value of making space for grace to be the sun that is shining on our work, and on our experience, I wish more people had a space for that because it is so dramatic and renewing and powerful. And I think it’s ultimately a lot of the engine that is accomplishing all that’s happening for us.”
Thanks again to this week's sponsor, helping keep the podcast FREE to you!
SUNGROW focuses on integrated energy storage system solutions, including PCS, lithium-ion batteries and energy management system. Pleae visit https://www.mysuncast.com/sungrow
ABOUT THE HOST OF SUNCAST:
Nico Johnson is the creator and host of SunCast, consistently rated a top solar podcast in the clean energy sector. The content of the show is geared towards listeners looking for insights on where the markets are headed, how to position themselves or their companies, and what today's market leaders do to stay ahead of the pack.
Nico is an Investor, Executive Coach, and 16-year veteran of the solar industry, having led development in the US and Latin America for global companies like Trina Solar and Conergy.
You can connect with Nico Johnson on Twitter, LinkedIn or email.
If you’ve been second-guessing your work decisions or maybe trying to reconsider how you "fit" in the renewable energy industry -> grab 20 minutes on Nico's calendar and discuss whether having him as Your personal coach might be the right next step.